Sanctuary
by chquine-harvinellisse
Summary: They were more alike than they thought. There were similarities though he could not recognize it while she knew it all too well. It sounds bad, yes I know... Loosely based on a picture I saw on Facebook.


**Just a sudden flash of inspiration due to a picture a friend of mine shared to me on Facebook… =D**

**You can view it in my profile if you want to… =D**

**But I got so off subject…**

**I don't think it's even acceptable…**

**Anyway, I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn and it belongs to its rightful owners…**

**On with it!**

* * *

Hibari was less than pleased to see someone crowding in his favorite spot in Namimori high. And the raven haired prefect was barely pleased to see the person who crowded in the rooftop.

Chrome Dokuro.

"Herbivore…" he stated plainly; it masked the annoyance in his voice.

Her head jerked up, indicating that she had heard him. She turned to him and acknowledged his presence, "Kumo-san…"

"What are you doing here in the rooftop?" he asked.

The purple haired girl, who had absolutely no idea that the prefect was equally fearsome just as he was in battle, replied despite the prefect's question being a rhetorical one, "I just wanted to get some air, Kumo-san…"

His eyes narrowed dangerously at her, "Get out herbivore…"

The left eye of the girl widened; unsure whether she had heard the Cloud Guardian correctly, "Kumo-san?"

He clenched his fists; he didn't like having someone take over his favorite spot at his beloved Namimori high.

"I won't repeat myself, herbivore…" he growled, "Get out of this place this instant or," with a click his tonfas emerged, "I'll bite you to death…"

Chrome seemed unfazed by his threat. Her lone violet eye studied him like a geometry problem. And he was a bit perplexed by her sudden backbone.

"No." His eyes narrowed.

No? Not one creature in existence could ever say that word to him. So why was this girl, whose name wasn't even worth remembering, traversing him like he was a mere prey?

"I am a student of Namimori High, Kumo-san," she stated plainly and somewhat obviously, "And I am allowed to access the school's facilities and areas. Why would you enforce discipline on someone who hasn't broken a single rule?"

Hibari blinked and was unnerved, but he didn't dare show it.

_No… Not to her…_

True, there was indeed no rule created for his private use of the rooftop and that no one else was allowed to enter the premises until he said so. Most of them were just too much of a coward to protest to him.

He stood there, rooted on the spot. He didn't know how to deal with this courageous herbivore who decided to stand up against him.

He sighed inaudibly and put his tonfas back. He walked past her and went to his usual spot and lay down on his back with his head propped on his arms.

The purple-haired illusionist didn't expect the solitary skylark to yield to her last-minute conjured reply. She wanted to open her mouth to ask him something, but Hibari's voice drifted through the air and made her clamp her mouth shut.

"_Make a noise and I'll bite you to death…"_

And with that she sat in front of the wire fence a few feet away from the prefect. The last thing she wanted to do was to get kicked out of the rooftop.

She took out her book for that afternoon and studied.

And the silence stretched on.

The next day, Hibari found Chrome sitting on the rooftop again. She was browsing through the pages of her Literature book.

"Herbivore…" he sighed with a tint of irritation in his voice, "Why are you here?"

"The same reason I was here yesterday…" she replied.

He didn't want to deal with her today. Things have been very pleasing for him this morning. He was able to bite a few students that broke the rules to death. And her presence made his mood revolting and he wanted her to leave.

"Don't ruin my mood for me… I had a perfectly pleasant morning…" he said with venom lacing his voice, "Sawada and his lackeys were behaving this morning…"

"Boss was?" she seemed to be intrigued.

He wordlessly passed by her and said, "Don't make me repeat myself herbivore…"

She sighed and said, "I understand, Kumo-san… I'll be leaving…"

Surprised as she didn't even try to reason with him, he followed her with his steel blue eyes as she left his sanctuary. Hibird fell on his head and chirped out his name, "Hibari! Hibari!"

He merely grunted silently in response and moved to his favored spot, assumed his usual position and took a long nap.

The next day was a Saturday and the prefect was more than glad of the holiday, although there was a part of him that wanted to bite some rule-breaker to death, he still appreciated his day off.

And what's more there was no chance of him seeing or crossing paths with the female illusionist since she might be, as they say, 'hanging out' with the other female herbivores.

He was halfway to opening the door that led him to the sanctuary he longed for when he stopped dead in his tracks as the wind surprised him the despicable scent of Sakura blossoms.

He frowned as his tonfas came out. He was going to bite whoever harbored that smell to death. He hated the scent of those cursed flowers even though he had been long cured of the Sakurakura disease.

He silently treaded onto his sanctuary and was displeased to see the female illusionist standing in front of the wire fence.

"Herbivore, what are you doing here?" he asked icily, but the tonfas were still firmly in his hands.

Said girl turned to him abruptly and unintentionally made him get a whiff of the accursed scent of Sakura again, therefore making him wince. He briefly began to wonder if she was doing this intentionally or if it was purely coincidental.

She started to stutter; it was a far cry from the girl who stood firmly by the rooftop, seeking solace in his sanctuary. "K—Kumo-san…" she acknowledged, "Why are you here?"

He kept his stance and said with a hard voice, "This place is my sanctuary… Why are _you_ here?"

She turned to him fully; one hand was clenched into a ball and rested on her chest. She squeezed her left eye shut and said, "I'm sorry… But can I please stay here for a while?"

Whatever firm tone she had two days ago has now turned into a more tamed and urgent voice.

He then found himself to be extremely curious. It was like a thirst, a thirst that needed to be sated.

But he didn't like voicing out his own curiosity.

"Please…" she pleaded, appealed once more, "I just need some time and space to think…"

He put his tonfas away and grunted neither agreeing nor disagreeing; though Chrome didn't like the vague reply, had she taken it as an affirmation.

She took her place back in front of the fence and sat with her knees close to her chest; tears lidded her eyes.

"Pathetic herbivore…" Hibari muttered coldly, "Your crying is disturbing my sleep…"

She turned to him apologetically and said, "I'm sorry Kumo-san…"

He waited for her to explain. He was never one to voice out what it was he wanted, and he knew that herbivores were driven by the need to pour out all of their weaknesses onto one another or to greater beings.

But she was different. And as much as he hated to admit it, he wanted her to share the weakness with him. He wanted her to satisfy his curiosity and pour out all of her herbivorous worried to him, a carnivore, a greater being; a stronger individual.

Yet his pride denied him of the thing he wanted.

She sighed and stood up, "I will be going now Kumo-san…"

He pretended not to care, but a small part of him itched for an answer. "Whatever…"

She bowed her head at him and said, "Thank you Kumo-san and I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep…"

He heard her footsteps fade as he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep when his mind in actually wandering to what kind of herbivorous weakness she was harboring inside her herbivorous-what was it, heart?

But as he heard the door close and the knob clicked, he realized that he would not be getting what he wanted.

And for the first time in his life, Hibari Kyoya felt denied, and he felt concerned even though it was merely a miniscule amount.

He closed his eyes as Hibird sang his beloved Namimori anthem though it was a bit off-tune. He turned to his side and tried to catch his sleep again, but found it to be impossible.

A strange gaping feeling gnawed at him. And it baffled him; he never thought he was even capable of producing such trivial and herbivorous things.

He felt empty, hollow, and the slightest bit of coldness in the very core of his being. It was uncalled for, yet it felt immensely familiar. He ignored it and soon he found comfort through the drifting world of slumber.

After the three consecutive days of seeing Chrome Dokuro, it was no longer a new thing for him to see her there almost everyday. He didn't mind though she crowded in his sanctuary, in fact if it wasn't for the fact that he saw her there beforehand, he wouldn't have known that she was there at all.

There was one particular day that he came to the sanctuary first before her. And he found himself wondering where she was.

Again he assumed his position on his back and waited. His eyes slowly came to a close as the azure sky and the lazily moving puffy clouds drove him to the edge of lethargy.

He was drifting to and fro; from consciousness and unconsciousness when he heard the sudden clicking of the doorknob followed by the maddening swing of the door, a panicked breath and the reverberated of the door being slammed shut.

He was on his feet before he could even let the door slam shut. His metal tonfas gleamed dangerously in the daylight and spelled mayhem for the one who dared to disturb his sleep.

His vision was still blurry from having them closed for a certain period of time; it was enforced by the sudden lethargy that the skies gave him.

When his vision cleared however, the one who usually preceded him in his sanctuary, in his threshold was panting as she leaned against the door behind her.

"Herbivore…" he said plainly, "You're disturbing my sleep…"

She caught her breath and said, "I'm sorry Kumo-san…" she said.

"Why are you here?" he drawled and yawned contentedly yet not really.

"I… was running…" she replied

He grunted in mock, "Such a weak herbivore… Running proves your weakness as an herbivore…"

Chrome looked up at him. Her expression was inscrutable.

"Is that why you're always here, Kumo-san?" she asked.

He turned his back away from her and started back to his favorite spot.

She knew that she would never get a reply from him directly. "Kumo-san…" she started only to be cut short by him, "I already told you to stay silent when you're here herbivore…"

Though his venomously dangerous voice made her step back a few steps, she started to her own spot and decided to continue what she wanted to say.

"I always wondered why you're here Kumo-san…" she continued, not caring if he paid her any attention or downright ignored her. She didn't even care if he was going to bite her to death; she needed to speak her mind.

"Boss and Reborn-san were talking about something psychological they read in a book," she said as the Cloud guardian closed his eyes and seemed to ignore her for his sleep, "And they said that when a person sleeps a lot, that person is lonely… Boss immediately related it to you…" a slight trace of amusement was in her voice, "Is that true? Are you lonely Kumo-san?"

She received no answer. Of course she knew better than to expect the Hibari Kyoya to answer her. She continued nonetheless, like she was merely talking to a mute person whilst voicing out her thoughts.

"Being lonely is when…" she paused as she tried to recall how she felt when her companions from Kokuyo land disappeared and left her, "You feel empty and cold because you know that no one is with you…"

_Loneliness, huh?_

"I felt that way when Mukuro-sama," Hibari inwardly scowled at the sound of his name, "Ken and Chikusa left me…"

Chrome focused her lone left eye on Hibari's sleeping figure. He could feel her gaze on him and he was tempted to open his eyes and glare at her for doing so, but he was reminded that he was feigning sleep. He didn't want to discus anything herbivorous with this girl.

"So I ran…" she continued as her gaze left him and soared to the sky, "I ran from the feeling of loneliness… I ran and ran until I could no longer find escape… I ran until I found a place where I can sort myself out… I ran until I found a sanctuary… A sanctuary where I can deal with the loneliness and the lack of acceptance that I have…"

She turned to Hibari and a small smile played on her lips. "Strangely enough, the sanctuary I found was Kumo-san's sanctuary too…"

The female illusionist knew that he wouldn't reply. The aloof Cloud knew that she was smiling at the incredulous similarity despite the chasm between them.

She stood up and said, "I owe a lot of things to you Kumo-san… I'll repay them one by one soon…" took a deep breath and exhaled to her heart's content and said, "_Kumo-san… Arigato guzaymasu…_"

Once again, Hibari found himself listening to her slowly fading footsteps.

"Herbivore," he called out as she was a few steps from the door. He opened his eyes and gazed at her with a soft expression in contrast to his hard voice, "You can repay me by helping me overcome this herbivorous feeling you call 'loneliness'…"

For the first time, the sixteen year old prefect admitted that he too, felt such herbivorous feelings. That he too had a weakness no matter how he tried to cover it with his audacity. That he too found solace in a sanctuary where he forgets his herbivorous feelings.

He admitted that he is indeed lonely and that he needed help to overcome it.

"But of course, Kumo-san…"

The sound of the door quietly shut and the clicking of the doorknob was the last that he heard before the delights of slumber overtook him once more.

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**Yeah I know it stinks and all…**

**Oh and I have another story that's entitled "It started with a question" (lame title I know…) it's also an 1896 pairing… Some people have requested for a sequel, and if you've read it and want a sequel too, please REVIEW and I'd be more than willing to make one… =D**

**Anyway, please do not hesitate to click the REVIEW button and feel free to convey your deepest darkest thoughts regarding the fic as it is greatly appreciated… =D**

**God Bless! =D**

**chquine_harvinellisse**


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